Lumber unloading toy freight car



y 1958 w. R. SMITH ETAL 2,844,911

LUMBER UNLOADING TOY FREIGHT CAR Filed Oct. 5, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1ATTORNEY y 29, 1958 w. R. SMITH ETAL 2,844,911

I LUMBER UNLOADING TOY FREIGHT CAR Filed Oct. 5, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 8sw m INVENTO R5 "Wilma/n1, 52,.

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B ATTORNEY United States Patent LUMBER UNLOADING TOY FREIGHT CAR WilliamR. Smith, Hamden, and Gabriel R. Monaco, New Haven, Conn., assignors toThe A. C. Gilbert lCorgrpany, New Haven, Conn, a corporation of Mary-Application October 3, 1956, Serial No. 613,711

9 Claims. (Cl. 46-40) This invention relates to a toy railway freightcar of the flat-car type equipped with figurettes that can be animatedto perform in a manner resembling workmen unloading lumber from the carto the trackside.

An object of the invention is to cause the animated figurettes to appearto fling lumber boards from the car by causing the figures to move insynchronism with each lumber board as it is discharged from the caralthough the figurettes do not actually handle the lumber.

Another object is to conceal all mechanism that actually does cause thedischarge of the boards from the car one by one.

A further object is to arrange electromagnetically motivated boarddischarging mechanism so as to be concealed in a shallow space beneath apile of toy lumber boards yet entirely above the floor surface of thefreight car.

A further object is to provide a storage bin on the car chassis forretaining a stack of boards in a condition to be discharged one by oneas aforesaid.

These and other objects of the invention will appear in fullerparticular from the following description of a preferred form of theimprovements having reference to the appended drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the improved automatic lumber unloadingtoy car standing on its track with already unloaded lumber boardsresting at the trackside or in course of being cast from the car.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the lumber unloading car with the mechanicalparts of its lumber discharging mechanism in normally inactive position.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the car of Fig. 2 carrying lumber boardsstacked in a holding bin.

Figure 4 is a plan view like Fig. 2 drawn on a larger scale showing thelumber absent from the bin with parts broken away to expose theanimating electromagnet.

Fig. 5 is an elevation similar to Fig. 3 showing parts broken away toexpose details of the unloading mechanism and partly in section on theplane 5-5 in Fig. 4 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 6 is a view taken in section on the plane 66 in Fig. 5 looking inthe direction of the arrows.

Fig. 7 is a view taken in section on the plane 7-7 in Fig. 5 looking inthe direction of the arrows.

In the drawings end portions of the chassis or platform 12 of a toyfreight car of the flat-car type are shown supported in conventionalmanner on wheeled trucks 13 that are pivotally connected to the chassis.If the chassis is of metal or electrically conductive material onetruck, all of whose wheels are of insulative material, is connected tothe chassis by a pivot pin 14 permitting electric contact between thetruck and the car chassis and the other truck is connected to thechassis by a pivot pin 15 and may have conductive wheels and beinsulated from the chassis by a bushing 16 and washer 17 so that currentderived from a track rail 18 through the wheels of the latter truck canbe led to the prime mover 22 of the lumber discharging mechanism througha conductive lead 23. Chassis 12, however, may be made of insulatingmaterial.

In case of a conductive chassis the electric circuit through the primemover or actuating solenoid 22 is completed by grounding its winding tothe car chassis which itself derives current through a collector shoe 19coupled electrically to the car chassis by pivot pin 14. In case of aninsulative chassis shoe 19 will be connected to the solenoid winding bya separate lead wire, not here shown because aside from the invention.Shoe 19 rides into contact with an auxiliary rail 20 stationed besideand separated from track 18 in insulated relation thereto. Fig. 1indicates current for operating solenoid 22 to be furnished from asuitable toy transformer 21 under selective remote control of amomentary contact switch 24.

Toy lumber boards 28 can be stacked in a pile on a stationary platformsurface 29 that is elevated somewhat above chassis 12. The boards aremaintained in vertical alignment by upstanding, angle forming, cornerposts 30 which together with upright flanges 31 spaced to the rearthereof form a retaining bin for the pile of lumber boards 28 byengaging only the end corners of the boards. At the bottom ends ofcorner posts 30 on a level with the platform surface 29 there is acutout 32 in each post which frees the end of only the bottom board 28to be shoved forward edgewise and separated from the pile of boardsabove it and ejected from the platform surface 29.

To accomplish such discharge of the bottom lumber board from the lumbercar an ejector is provided in the form of a stroking element 36positioned to perform reciprocativemovement just above and across theplatform surface 29. The preferred outline shape of stroking element 36appears most clearly in Figs. 4 and 5 where it is seen to comprise athin flat horizontal rigid strip bent downward and outward to provideterminal portions 37 which rest slidably on the top surface of thechassis 12. At each end of the ejector 36 its terminal portions extendlengthwise of the car past the confines of the lumber bin defined byposts 30 and flanges 31 which rise from end walls 33 upstanding fromchassis 12 which have their bottom edges recessed at 34. End walls 33meet a front wall 35 and a rear wall 27 completing the superstructurethat forms an elevated bin. Ejector 36 shifts backward and forwardbetween its positions shown respectively in broken and in full lines inFig. 4 by sliding along recess 34.

When ejector 36 occupies its normal position farthest to the rear itunderlies a storage portion of the superstructure that adjoins thelumber bin at the rear as defined =by two additional corner posts 38rising above end shelves 39 on which there may rest the ends of aninactive stack of lumber boards 40, or some dummy representationthereof, additional to the boards 28 in the active pile.

Ejector 36 is normally pulled toward the rear and maintained in itsretracted position, shown in full lines in Fig. 4, by two extensiblespring coils 41 anchored to the rear wall 27 of the superstructure andto the ejector 36. The force of springs 41 can be overcome by theattracting power of solenoid 22 when the latter, which is mounted onfront wall 35 by means of rivets 26, is electrically energized to drawits armature 42 forward. The rear end of armature 42 is fixed in adownward bent apron depending from stroking element 36 and the rear wall27 of the superstructure acts as a stop to determine the normallyretracted position of the ejector.

On each of the aforementioned terminal portions of ejector 36 justoutside the ends of the bin a figurette 44 is mounted fashioned torepresent a workman posed as in the natural act of lifting ends of theboards 28 from the bin and casting the boards off from the car one at atime. Thus when the figurettes move quickly forward in unison with thecasting ofi of a board by ejector 3.6 an illusion is created that eachboard, although actually ejected from the bottom of the pile, has beenlifted from the top of the .pile .and cast off .from .thefreight car bycooperative action of the two figurettes.

This casting off .of .a :single :board at .11 .tirne ean be occasionedrepeatedly and at will .by momentarily closing switch 24 which can :belocated close-to ,the other track side switches that control variousoperations :nf a :toy or miniature railroad.

The appended claims are directed to and intended to cover not only theprecise shape and arrangement :of parts herein disclosed .to illustratethe invention but all equivalents thereof that are fairly embraced by abroad interpretation of the terms used in the claims.

We claim:

1. A toy railway ,open elongated flat car electrically operative tounload individual lumber boards more than half as long .as said car,comprising a chassis of the flat-car type supported on wheeled trucks, abin-like superstructure on said chassisfashioned ,to form a rectangularelongate board stacking space bordered by upstanding posts of cornerforming cross sectional shape, actuating means on said chassis at therear of said space mounted to move crosswise thereof in a path anddirection to engage and displace the long edges of said boards from saidspace ;at least one at a time, and a normally idle electromagnetic primemover connected when electrically energized to actuatelsaid means insaid path and direction.

2. A toy railway freight car as defined in claim .1,.in which the saidmovable means comprises a stroking element mounted and connected to bereciprocated in a rectilinear path by the said prime mover.

3. A toy railway freight car asdefined in claim 1, together with twomovable figurettes simulating lumber handling workmen positioned at andfacing each other and theopposite ends of the said space'respectivelythereby seemingly to cooperate in handling said boards one by one, andconnections between said figurettes and the said actuating meansoperative to cause movement of both figurettes in synchronism with boardactuating movement of the said means, thereby to produce a visualimpression that both figurettes cooperate simultaneously in causingdischarge of a single lumber board from the car.

4. A toy railway freight car as defined in claim 1, in which the saidsuperstructure forms a bin having a stationary platform surface ,andupright guide posts positioned to nest the corners of a pile of toylumber boards stacked in said space, at least two of said'guide postsbeing .apertured to permit at least one of said boards .at a time todepart edgewise from said bin.

,5. A toy railway freight car as defined in claim 4, in which the saidstationary platform surface is elevated above the said chassis to .forma space occupied by the said prime mover.

6. A toy railway freight car as defined in claim 5, in which the saidmovable means comprises a stroking element mounted and connected to bereciprocated in a path above and across the said stationary platform.

7. A toy railway freight car as defined claim 6, in which the saidstroking element :comprises ,a slide mounted and connected to be,reciprocated in a planar path across and :parallel with the saidstationary plat form.

8. A toy railway freight car as defined in claim 5, in which the saidprime mover is confined to levels above the said car chassis.

.9. ,A toy railway freight car as defined in :claim 8, in which :thesaid prime mover .comprises an electromagnet solenoid having ahorizontal axis and a horizontally fiattened cross sectional shape forcondensing its height to accord with shallow dimensions of thesaid'space between the'said platform surface and the said car chassis.

References Cited in the file of thispatent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,323,240 Rexford June 29, 1943 2,444,961 Smith July 13, 1948 2,658,307Pettit Nov. 10, 1953 2,664,664 Bonanno Jan. 5, 1954 2,686,385 Smith.Aug. 17, 19,54

